CD Projekt RED Looks to Improve Work-Life Balance During Cyberpunk 2077 “Crunch”
There’s no denying that Cyberpunk 2077 looks fantastic from everything CD Projekt RED has showcased so far. Despite this, in an industry where the development “crunch” is the norm, it certainly begs the question: are the developers are breaking their backs to make the beloved game? It seems CD Projekt RED is doing everything they can to improve the work-life balance for their employees while they work on the highly anticipated title.
CD Projekt RED, like many other companies in the industry including Rockstar and Bioware, has previously been known to have a reputation for this development crunch, which is known as working the developers to the bone, day and night, for weeks or months at a time. It seems that may be a thing of the past as Co-Founder Marcin Iwiński and Cyberpunk 2077 Director Adam Badowski recently told Kotaku they are working to improve the work-life balance of their employees.
Marcin Iwiński had this to say, “We’re known—let me be humble for a moment here—we are known for treating gamers with respect…And I actually would [like] for us to also be known for treating developers with respect. We’ve been working toward it for some time already…but we want to be more humane and treat people with respect. If they need to take time off, they can take time off. Nobody will be frowned upon if this will be requested.”
Badowski commented that family life plays a huge role in the decision to try and change the company’s culture, “We do have private lives as well. We are getting older, and most of the people who are responsible for crunch, they have families, little kids, and they feel exactly the same.” When asked if there’s one promise they could make to ensure the final weeks of Cyberpunk 2077 would have less of a crunch Adam Badowski said, “I think we can promise that it’ll be better than The Witcher’s finishing period.”
And while it’s hard to say that this crunch will disappear altogether, if it’s significantly less stressful than the development on other titles, than it’s a big step in the right direction. What do you think about what CD Projekt RED is trying to do? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and don’t forget to keep it locked for updates about Cyberpunk 2077!